This is part 1 of a series, part 2 can be found here.

Don't get me wrong, but right now I'm wondering what it is that the liberal left is exactly trying to do with its resources, limited as they may be. I wouldn't necessarily call myself distinctly left but I do feel very liberal...and it's been evident for long enough now that liberties are not on the agenda. Whether through an authoritarian and totalitarian edging Labour government, or a Conservative party that has never shown any proof of anything other than basic liberalism, we have no prominent banner to crowd under and no apparent leadership to direct us.

Whether this is a particularly leftist trait or not is another argument for another day but I was always very hopeful, and still am, that Liberal Conspiracy could become a leading light for liberalism in the UK political scene over time. Unfortunately it seems like it still needs to publish things that have absolutely no worth to furthering the cause, such as Unity's two pieces in recent days.

Excuse me if I yawn. I usually like Unity's pieces when I have the time to read through them...but every now and again he devolves in to some psuedo-Guido figure that rolls out these kinds of stories. To me Liberal Conspiracy needs to be much more grand, and think much bigger. It needs to be building bridges to the political media, it needs to become a respected website for debate and insight in to liberal issues of the day as well as our core principles.

Are we really here to try and score political points against insignificant bodies, giving them more publicity than they probably could have hoped to receive in their early lives? To point out that the Tories lack transparency? (bears also shit in the woods, but that's tomorrow's breaking news). Or are we here to prove there is a strong and coherent voice on the Liberal side of things and to make that voice one to reckon with?

I've said on the site that there is a need for a manifesto of sorts, a set of core principles that everyone that considers themselves liberal, left or not, can subscribe to. Cast aside needs to be arguments about how best to run benefits systems and taxation, and other such areas that divide the libertarians from the socialists, and in needs to come reinvigorated campaigns against ID cards and for Electoral reform, along with other wholly accepted liberal principles. Certainly we don't need quite frankly boring pieces attacking "the other side", especially when the other side is an individual.

This post I'm making could easily be seen by some as part of the infighting that is unilaterally a "leftist" trait (which is utter bullshit by the way) but these are the struggles that we in the online world need to sort out before we can move forward. Without a direction, a strategy, that has been captured by the majority we are plaguing ourselves with a situation of offering ourselves for "indecisive" criticisms for the months and years to come. Let's sort out shit out now, so that we can come across much more unified and smelling of roses when our arguments need to matter.

cjcjc put it best today, unfortunately...

Why, in only the last couple of days the critical issues of something naughty Guido did and something naughty someone called Harry Cole did have featured on this (liberal conspiracy) very blog. And now the hot news of your Dale boycott.